LEP patients had worse preoperative visual acuity (logMAR 0.566 vs 0.366) before cataract surgery

Description #

LEP patients presented with worse preoperative corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) than EP patients (logMAR 0.566 [SD = 0.64] vs 0.366 [SD = 0.51], P < .0001; median 0.398 vs 0.301) (Table 1). Higher logMAR indicates worse acuity, so LEP patients had more visual impairment at presentation.

"Preoperative visual acuity was worse in LEP patients (logMAR 0.566 [SD = 0.64] vs 0.366 [SD = 0.51], P < .0001)" (Zafar, 2023, p. 595)

"Preop logMAR ... Mean (SD) 0.566 (0.64) 0.366 (0.51) ... <.0001" (Zafar, 2023, p. 597, Table 1)

Methods Context #

What? #ⓘ

The observable: preoperative corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), recorded in logMAR.

"Demographic and preoperative characteristics analyzed included sex, patients' self-reported race, ethnicity, age, preoperative corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), as well as a history of type 2 diabetes, uveitis, macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy." (Zafar, 2023, p. 596)

How? #ⓘ

Retrospective analysis of a cataract-surgery outcomes database; preoperative CDVA compared by LEP status as a continuous variable.

"We performed a retrospective analysis using the Cataract Surgery Outcomes Database developed by the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine." (Zafar, 2023, p. 596)

Who? #ⓘ

Preoperative logMAR was available for 864 LEP eyes and 12,697 EP eyes of the 13,590-eye cohort at a single academic eye center (2014–2020).

"A total of 13 590 eyes were included in the analytic database. Of these, 868 (6.4%) were identified from LEP patients." (Zafar, 2023, p. 596)

Caveats #

• Single tertiary-referral academic center limits generalizability of LEP cataract findings (Zafar) The study drew from a single academic tertiary-referral eye center whose LEP population may differ from LEP patients elsewhere. Its LEP rate (6.4%) was below the metro Denver average, which the authors attribute to access barriers under-representing LEP patients and to the center serving patients from outside the metro area. The authors explicitly caution that this specific LEP group may not generalize to other practice settings.